That bloody Rook is beginning to annoy me now..

Cobra

Gregory House
Admin
Messages
115,214
Name
The real Chris
Edit My Images
No
Every year for many years past ( I guess it may not be the same pair, although the life span is 15-20 years, so it maybe)
A single Rooks nest appears in a tree to the rear of my house.
It's quite comical watching it patrol the area flying from one roof top to the next. As soon as something else enters it air space, its off like a rocket
chasing the offender out of sight.

Recently its started wading in the shallow end of my pond and grabbing any pond snails that get in the shallow end.
Fair enough, they breed like errr snails anyway. Plenty for everyone.

But just recently its learned a new trick. It finds half a loaf ( well it seems like it) and dumps it in the bird bath, I assume to soften it.
I wouldn't mind if it ate it all, but no, I'll come home and find a crust or a hunk of "french loaf" floating in there and contaminating the bird bath, as it breaks down.
This obviously deters other smaller birds from drinking or bathing.

Which in turn is a bit of a mystery as the pond is only a few feet away and has a very shallow end.
I guess the smaller birds feel safer in the bird bath as its about 30" off the ground, though.
 
Possibly moistening the food for the benefit of chicks back at the nest.
 
Possibly moistening the food for the benefit of chicks back at the nest.
Quite possibly, but its still p***ing me off having to empty clean the "Bath" every day.
 
Every year for many years past ( I guess it may not be the same pair, although the life span is 15-20 years, so it maybe)

A single Rooks nest appears in a tree to the rear of my house.
Recently its started wading in the shallow end of my pond and grabbing any pond snails that get in the shallow end.
Fair enough, they breed like errr snails anyway. Plenty for everyone.

But just recently its learned a new trick. It finds half a loaf ( well it seems like it) and dumps it in the bird bath, I assume to soften it.
I wouldn't mind if it ate it all, but no, I'll come home and find a crust or a hunk of "french loaf" floating in there and contaminating the bird bath, as it breaks down.
This obviously deters other smaller birds from drinking or bathing.

Sorry..I had to laugh when I saw the thread title. However..it's exactly the same with us. We have a pond with a shallow end..mms deep..we were advised to have a shallow end so anything in there could get out..frogs etc. ..we have them croaking at night..darned noisy too. We have two local crows that bring bread and whatever onto the bird bath and soak it. As you say, it leaves a mess. I keep an eye on the bird bath for that reason and renew the water. I've been taking water from the pond lately as the other day Severn Trent must have tipped a few tanker loads of chlorine in. The crows will try to drink from the deep end whilst standing on the edging stones ( see my 'squirrel drinking' post today in Wild/Free) and make its way round to the shallow end where it drinks and has a wash & brush up. It even lifts the edging of the rubber lining looking for any tit bits, snails worms and finds them too.The lining has a flap over at that end as it slopes up to the patio,it can't get under the lining of course. It checks the ferns above the pond for beasties. It's meticulous the way it goes about that. One fern to another and checking between the rocks as it goes.Lately, I'm finding long grasses in the bird bath water. Now that is a mystery.
 
I'm afraid it has amused me too, but I also feel your pain. I have to clean my bird baths most days because the wood pigeons like to poo in them :rolleyes:

I've been feeding a couple of pheasants every day. They run up to the window when they see me and are quite endearing making little noises as I head out to feed them. They have however eaten all the lettuce seeds, turned over our pots with seeds or small plants in them and the female has settled down into the lettuce 'box'. Oh and this evening they snipped all the heads off the basil plants which has really pleased my OH.

IMG_3322.JPG
 
@Cobra

Just a thought, though of course the cheeky corvid could end up using your pond to soften it's baked products ;)

When feeding ground feeders I recall seeing + reading about using a large mesh dome shield that allows smaller birds to get through but not the likes of pigeons and larger birds. Therefore I wonder, depending on the size, shape and positioning of the bird bath, of such a cage shield would work???
 
Every year for many years past ( I guess it may not be the same pair, although the life span is 15-20 years, so it maybe)
A single Rooks nest appears in a tree to the rear of my house.
It's quite comical watching it patrol the area flying from one roof top to the next. As soon as something else enters it air space, its off like a rocket
chasing the offender out of sight.

Recently its started wading in the shallow end of my pond and grabbing any pond snails that get in the shallow end.
Fair enough, they breed like errr snails anyway. Plenty for everyone.

But just recently its learned a new trick. It finds half a loaf ( well it seems like it) and dumps it in the bird bath, I assume to soften it.
I wouldn't mind if it ate it all, but no, I'll come home and find a crust or a hunk of "french loaf" floating in there and contaminating the bird bath, as it breaks down.
This obviously deters other smaller birds from drinking or bathing.

Which in turn is a bit of a mystery as the pond is only a few feet away and has a very shallow end.
I guess the smaller birds feel safer in the bird bath as its about 30" off the ground, though.

Good observation of behaviour.

Interested by - 'A single Rooks nest appears in a tree to the rear of my house.' Is it a rook or a crow? I thought rook nesting was always colonial.

Dave
 
Sorry..I had to laugh when I saw the thread title
I'm afraid it has amused me too
Well I'm glad you are both amused :D

They have however eaten all the lettuce seeds, turned over our pots with seeds or small plants in them Oh and this evening they snipped all the heads off the basil plants which has really pleased my OH.
It sounds like they are fattening themselves up for Christmas :D

Just a thought, though of course the cheeky corvid could end up using your pond to soften it's baked products ;)
The pond is about 95% netted, apart from the shallow end, that's not deep enough to soak bread half a loaf ( or so it seems) in.
The young starlings have learned if a large group stands on the netting it will actually sag enough for them to drink through....
The smart ones however go the the un-netted part and can drink there :D


Interested by - 'A single Rooks nest appears in a tree to the rear of my house.' Is it a rook or a crow? I thought rook nesting was always colonial.
100% Rook and yes I've never seen a singleton nesting anywhere else either.
But I have also seen small colony's of crows nesting close.
There are no hard and fast rules in nature it seems.


See that rook...etc etc
Thanks for your in put Mark (y)
 
Just to add, I had eaten most of a water melon but the end bit was starting to go a little soft, so I cut it into quarters and left it on the path.
The first bits to go were the seeds ( understandably) then a 1/4 disappeared.
Dare I look in the bird bath?
Yes I did ...
It was quite a substantial ( for a bird) piece but there it was ...
That damned rook had struck again!
 
Just to add, I had eaten most of a water melon but the end bit was starting to go a little soft, so I cut it into quarters and left it on the path.
The first bits to go were the seeds ( understandably) then a 1/4 disappeared.
Dare I look in the bird bath?
Yes I did ...
It was quite a substantial ( for a bird) piece but there it was ...
That damned rook had struck again!
:thinking::thinking::thinking::banghead:.........................................:mad:.................but no :bat:
 
We have a large crow (definitely not a rook) that visits daily and I've watched him/her from the window using the water in my bird bath to soften bread.
Same problem, it leaves a lot of bread behind which then makes the water look manky.
It completely ignores my pond.
They are nesting in a tree in our street.
 
We have a large crow (definitely not a rook) that visits daily and I've watched him/her from the window using the water in my bird bath to soften bread.
It seems it not an uncommon Corvid trait, in that case.
But this is the first year its ever happened. I guess it is probably the same pair as years past, due to the same "patroling" behavior patterns,
each year..
 
Last edited:
Another up date, earlier today I saw what I take to be dad head into the nesting tree,
He exited a few seconds later with 4 juveniles and "mum" They all flew over the roof tops.
I'm just hoping that they haven't been watching terminator and will be back ...
 
Back
Top